Angelo.
My father sets the letter down with trembling hands, gets up, and goes to the mantle. He puts his hands in his pocket and stares into the gray, cold ashes of the fireplace. This was incredibly hard for him to read and even harder for me to hear. I was just as cruel as her father. I hurt her, mistrusted her, I treated her like a prisoner when she had been in one her whole life.
I reach for the bottle and pour a drink, swallowing it whole. No one speaks. Jasper and Charlie most likely don’t understand the gravity of the situation, but we do.
My father speaks to us, but he won’t turn away from the fireplace.
“If Charlie and Jasper would excuse us for a few moments. Danny and Carlos, it’s up to you whether you want to stay. But I need to speak privately with my sons.” His voice is cold and detached. Christopher takes Jasper and Charlie to the library and comes back to take his seat once again.
“Alexander, it will be hard for you to hear what I have to tell you. What I’m about to say involves your wife. And if you’d rather it stays private between us, I’ll respect that.”
The hair on the back of my neck rises, and I look at my brothers around the table. No matter my issues with Isabella and, dear God, after this, they will all do everything they can to protect her. She is part of our family now. In fact, I think we all need to know what’s going on, all of it.
“Go ahead, I have no secrets from my brothers.”
He takes a deep breath and starts. “Eleven years ago, Angelo Gallo and Isabella were in a car accident coming home from a trip to the museum. Angelo loved that little girl; he took her everywhere and did everything with her. Angelo was an art enthusiast. He took her to every opening at every gallery he could. She was everything to him.”
My gut drops. She was with her grandfather when he died. Sebastian whispers, “Shit”. Carlos lets out a heavy sigh. Christopher covers his face with his hand and murmurs, “Christ.” Danny looks away, his face crumpled in anger, silent as he always is.
My father continues. His voice is faintly unsteady. “That day, Robert had called me in a panic, saying that Isabella and his father hadn’t come home. I immediately got my men together, and we started the search. But as we backtracked them to the museum, we discovered the accident. They were hit side on, killing Angelo instantly, but Isabella was not at the hospital when we arrived. No one even knew that she was in the car, except for us, and we never said a word to the authorities.”
What the fuck? I want to stand up and yell at him. How could he just ignore her being missing? But I’ll hold my glass and wait.
“I knew at once that something was up; something was wrong right from the start. And I wanted to keep it an organization problem because this was no mere accident. I knew in my gut that someone had taken Angelo out. Why I don’t know, or what they needed with Isabella. I could only assume it would be ransom. I assembled our best and started the search for her. Robert had his father’s estate to look after, and he helped us as much as he could. Eight days after her kidnapping, Robert received a letter asking for four million from Angelo's estate. We gathered the money, and it took me two weeks to find it. But I finally knew where the bastard was that had taken her; and I knew the men that were hired.”
I feel like I’m going to throw up. My little bunny, my poor bunny.
“I never told Robert I had found them, and I’m glad I went with my gut. Robert went to do the drop off on the night they asked, but I was already at the shitty warehouse they held her in. I killed each one of those assholes. I didn’t need to keep them for questioning; they were scum. They killed my best friend and stole his granddaughter. I didn’t care how many years it would take me or how long I needed to wait. I would find out who is behind the order.”
The anger in the room is palpable. You can feel it, taste it in the air, each one of us gripping our fist tight, wishing we could have been there to kill the bastards all over again. We are all staring at my father like this can’t be real.
My father turns to look right at me with his face pinched, anguish written on his features as he speaks.
“I was the one that found her. They left her lying in the dirt on the cold cement floor. One rat-infested blanket was all she had to lie on. She had been blindfolded, and her hands were zip-tied behind her back and her feet were tied. She had a gag on at onepoint but somehow managed to either chew through or spit it out.”
His eyes glaze over, turning a light pink. This is killing him to talk about and it’s ripping me to shreds to hear it. I stand up and walk over to the bar and back to the table. I want to kill them all, feel their throats crushed beneath my hand.
“She had been there for two weeks, Alexander. When I finally reached her, she was catatonic. Isabella would only stare into space. She never cried out or even whimpered as I picked her up off that cold floor and covered her in my suit jacket. She was so tiny and helpless in my arms. I wanted to kill them all over again.”
I look at the men around the table. I want to scream, throw my fucking glass at the wall just to hear it smash. Sebastian is basically crying, and Carlos has his head in his hands. Christopher looks like he’s ready to go grab his rifle and take everyone out. I’m barely holding the rage back. I want to smash this room to pieces. I want to run up those stairs and beg her forgiveness.
My father clears his throat, his emotion showing through.
“I took her immediately to Robert’s house. He hired the best professionals, and I sent our private doctor to look after her, no matter the cost. She stayed that way for over seven months, Alexander. Unable to speak or move, she just lay in her bed and stared at the ceiling.”
My father clears his throat. “I know now, it was Robert. He killed my best friend and tried to get rid of Isabella. I will have my revenge. But for now, Isabella is here and safe and will remain so.”
He looks around the room at the stunned and angry faces looking back at him.
“Right now, we need to focus on Robert and the top four nameson that list, and anyone else that bastard has under them. Christopher, I want you and your men to find those bastards and bring as many as you can get your hands on to the shipping barge. I have 35 rooms on that ship, and I want every room filled. I’ll handle Robert. The prospect of gaining more power will bring him right into my hands. Sebastian, I need you to run those accounts for Isabellas. Once this ends, she will have a major company to inherit, and I’d like to have the mess Robert created cleared up as best we can.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, managing to finally speak. “And me?”
My father walks over and puts his hand on my shoulder.
“I want you to know, Robert approached me with the marriage contract. I never pursued marriage for you. You still need to grow, control your temper, and learn your role as a leader, and you are. But once I let the idea sink in, I knew there was no one better for her. I knew that no matter your feelings, you would protect her. I didn’t expect you to love her, and true to your nature, once something belongs to you, you will do whatever it takes to keep it. You made her yours, Alexander. You won’t admit it, but you love her in your own way. I saw it. So, your job is to guard her and protect her because Robert is coming after us all.”
My father sits down, pours another drink, and takes a sip, rolling the glass between his hands.
